An odd terminal

I wrote to Xitron's current tech support email, and got this in reply (posted as a comment on my Flickr page:) -- This is a "Xitron Portable Terminal" and dates from the late 70's or VERY early 80's, as evidenced by the acoustic coupler (hand set cups) for the modem. Believe it or not, this was the "laptop" computer of the day. It had a very specific purpose, to allow text entry of news(?) stories and then transmitted them to a central office via the modem. When I joined Xitron in 1985, they were still servicing these units, many of them in Central and South America, but production had long since ceased. Xitron had a long history in the newspaper market but has transitioned to Electronic Prepress (Graphic Arts). They are still in business today. I am REALLY surprised that this unit is still functional (to some extent). It is the ONLY example of hardware employing magnetic bubble memory I have ever seen. The fact that the bubble cartridge still has it's contents is even more astonishing. I do not know if the bubble memory cartridge was built by Xitron or was simply integrated as an off-the-shelf storage solution. I believe (could be wrong) that Steve Philips was the engineer behind this device. The fact that it is still working only stands as evidence that he is the single most talented electrical engineer I have ever met in my 24+ years in the high technology sector. Bravo! -- -j